1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to an improved manifold for dispensing of multiple component adhesives and other liquids. More particularly, the present invention provides an improved manifold that is easily cleanable.
2. Description of the Related Art
The delivery of liquid materials through tubing, hoses, or pipes is simple and well known. Differing materials traveling concurrently through separate tubes are also common. It is frequently desirable for differing materials traveling through multiple tubes to converge into one tube. As liquids flow towards this point of convergence, the contour of the tube path will impact the flow performance of the liquid, increase or decrease the frictional resistance of the liquid, and affect the ease with which the tubes can be maintained, cleaned or unclogged.
The joining of multiple liquids requires a special tubing manifold such as a wye manifold. The design of the adapter is critical to liquid delivery performance. This apparatus is particularly important when used by an operator to apply a multiple component liquid such as a coating or an adhesive to a surface.
The wye manifold derives its name from the fact that it has a generally Y-shaped body or housing when it is configured to interconnect two upper tubular strings (“chemical feed tubes”) to a single lower tubular string (“discharge tube”). As used herein, the term “wye manifold” includes configurations in which two or more chemical hoses are interconnected to another discharge tube by the wye manifold body or housing.
A prior art dual manifold, as illustrated in FIG. 5 of U.S. patent application publication 2012/0012054 A1 is used to apply two-part adhesives utilizing a wye manifold wherein the shape of an internal path is constructed with 90 degree angles as parallel first paths. The 90 degree angled paths are created from partially drilling faces of the wye manifold and connecting with a perpendicular path. Such prior art wye manifolds have flow paths with angles which require increased pressure for use.
In addition, when wye manifolds clog due to chemical reaction or physical change of the materials within, cleaning is not readily accomplished by applying pressure or by drilling due to the configuration of the internal pathways and the angles at which they are disposed within the manifold. Wye manifolds are often utilized for the purpose of merging the flow path of liquids. The merging of liquids frequently causes a chemical reaction with many multiple component coatings and adhesives. When the stream of materials is stopped or slowed, the chemicals begin to react right at this merge point. Often the curing of these liquids begins at the merge point and then progresses upstream past the angle change and up into the inlets of the wye manifold. The curing process results in clogging as the physical state changes from that of a liquid to a solid or gel. The resulting hardened mass takes on the shape of the wye. The inside walls of the wye manifold act like a mold while the materials set up and cure. This hardened mass could be forcibly moved downstream and out of the wye manifold if the shape of the tubing were straight. But the change in the angle of the flow path molds this mass into a shape with an elbow. This elbow of the mass is now locked into place by the angled elbow of the wye manifolds. If pressure is applied in an attempt to dislodge this clog, the hardened mass cannot flow past the corner and the wye manifold is clogged. It is not possible to eject this hardened mass by increasing the pressure of the fluids.
Restoring this wye manifold into a usable part is normally accomplished with mechanical means. A drill bit can be inserted into the outlet of wye. The spinning drill bit will remove the clogged mass from the lower part of the wye outlet. In order to access this opening, the downstream plumbing must be removed. Examples of downstream plumbing are spray nozzles and static mixing tips. In order to access the inlets of the wye manifolds, the liquid supply lines must also be removed. Cleaning out the manifold requires not only drilling up from the outlet and down through the inlet, but also a side plug must be removed to allow the drill to be inserted to clean out the horizontal portion of the clogged path. At that point, the drill bit can be inserted into each opening to clear out the hardened mass clog. This process is not only time consuming but extremely messy, expensive, and wasteful as the liquid in the supply lines usually flows out and cannot be recovered.
For overnight storage, the flow path of the wye manifold must be purged to prevent hardening of the materials. Additionally, it is often recommended that the outlets be filled with grease to prevent hardening. This shut down procedure at the end of each use is quite time consuming and the grease has to be purged prior to the next start up.
In view of the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a need exists for an improved manifold in which multiple chemical feed tubes are interconnected.